The Time of the Dragon
by classyspider
Summary: one-shot Set years before the events of The Hobbit the seventh Doctor and Ace discover a deadly foe at the center of a paradox. Time of the Dragon series.


The Time of the Dragon Set years before the events of The Hobbit the seventh Doctor must confront a deadly foe to fix a paradox.

There was a blue box floating in space, this was a quite unique box in fact. It was shaped like an old 1960's police box and was bigger on the inside. Her pilot called her The TARDIS Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. As the name implies she is a time machine. The pilot is called The Doctor currently he is a shorter man wearing a white jacket over a checked vest, white trousers, and a wide brimmed panama hat.

In his younger days The Doctor loved having a rollicking adventure, now he was older and wiser concentrating on fighting evil. Sometimes that fight came at a great cost. He always needed help from a companion to get out of trouble.

His current companion prefers to be called Ace ( _if you call her Dorothy I'm not responsible for the consequences_ ). She wore a dark biker's style jacket covered in bright patches and her name on the back. She is a rebel even managing to call The Doctor "Professor" without his protest.

The Doctor was as usual brooding at the console as Ace entered the room. He seemed to be deeply contemplating a piece of stone that shone with a great inner light it was as if a great galaxy of stars and nebulas was trapped within. Ace's thoughts froze as she unconsciously slipped her backpack off unzipping it to reach for her trusty nitro-nine. The Doctor swiftly turned pocketing the jewel. "ahhh" he muttered. Flipping a switch so the TARDIS could take flight. Ace blinked in confusion wondering why she had an explosive out. "Professor what?" She asked ready for a long explanation. "That's the Arken Stone's affect Ace I am not sure where it came from or what it does. Now I must bury it hope it will be lost forever." The Doctor replied. With a final shake the TARDIS floated in midair as The Doctor expertly maneuvered over a tall lonely mountain. He had chosen a distant planet far from any civilization at the edge of the galaxy. "And how are you going to do that?" Ace asked teasingly she knew The Doctor loved showing off. "I'm using a gravity beam to bury the stone deep in the mountain and close the hole after." The Doctor gave Ace one of his rare smiles impressed with his work.

Suddenly a deep bell sounded "What the Cloister Bell!" The Doctor shouted running to the console. "A paradox What?!, we must be at the nexus point! I hope I can find the source…" Ace paused from gripping the console grimly if she didn't know better she would swear The Doctor looked scared.

Slowly the fogginess of The Doctor's vast memory cleared he remembered where he had seen the Arken Stone before long ago in his Fourth Incarnation.

The Doctor turned the brakes off and set the TARDIS to invisible he had the beginnings of a plan.

"Listen closely Ace, Our only chance is to outthink the creature outside."

I've rigged the TARDIS keys as a perception filter we must strive to be unnoticed." Glancing knowingly at Ace's backpack. "Explosions will only make him angry." The Doctor warned.

The Doctor set the TARDIS forward to the future of the planet Arden of Middle Earth. The TARDIS scanners picked up life now north of the Lonely Mountain. Taking a glance at the archives he noted the dwarves, elves, dragons and other creatures now there. Especially since the dwarves had settled at the very mountain he had hid the jewel.

The Doctor carefully opened the TARDIS door once they landed. The bright yellow glow of the vast treasure blinded them for a moment as they stepped out. Ace had a hard time not shouting in excitement seeing precious gems, gold coins, armor, and many other indescribable items all finely crafted with sparkling metals. At first Ace thought a great wind was whistling and roaring through the cavern but then she realized it must be some creature breathing.

Gold coins cascaded down the vast hill as the beast's head slid from underneath. He was like a prehistoric monster bristling with sharp spikes, sharp jagged teeth, and blood red scales glistening with the hardness of a thick armor. His cats' eye gleamed with menacing intelligence. His bat wings and long sinuous body curled around nasty grim-covered talons on his feet.

The Doctor carefully grasped a small handful of gold coins holding them high, and letting them slip through his fingers.

"I see you have prospered from the gain of others Smaug the Golden." He exclaimed putting a touch of sarcasm in his praise.

Smaug growled warningly his lamp like eyes scanning everything. He took a long breath " you smell of time,…. and _death_ , you must be a very foolish wizard to challenge me." Smaug bared his teeth in a terrible parody of a grin.

"As to your question, what if I have, trickster? I should have all the great beasts tithing their bounty to me for am I not the most powerful of my kind?" He boasted Smaug loved to boast.

"Ah, but you have not proved yourself with a treasure of your own taking." The Doctor goaded.

What bounty is worth my effort? Even this is a pitiful treasure. I have heard whispers of the dwarves having more. Tell me where are they?" Above all else Smaug was greedy for information to slack his boredom.

"It's not that easy Smaug, I have a riddle for you a horse jumps over a tower and captures a knight what am I?" The Doctor challenged.

Smaug licked his lips lazily "Or I could eat you now wizard who thinks his spells can affect me. The answer of course," the dragon tasted his words thoughtfully " is chess a true test of wits and strategy."

With a long delicate swipe of his claw he revealed a life size chess set, each piece gilded in gold and silver in the shape of dwarves and orcs. Of course the Doctor chose the white side of the board preferring to change his strategy as needed. He even turned off his perception filter to further distract the dragon as Ace carefully planted her nitro-nine explosive timed for the end of the game.

"What do you remember of home," the Doctor hummed as Smaug grew agitated and moved into the middle of the board aggressively. It seemed the Doctor was on the defensive barely matching this tactic but then he tried his own variation of a queen's gambit to slip a lowly pawn across the board. As he delayed Smaug's attacks one of the most impossible things happened between two grand masters, a pawn made it to Smaug's side of the board changing everything.

Taking advantage of the Doctor's distraction all through the game Smaug had used his mental abilities to glean what he sought , "There is a name hidden from sight if you wish for me not to speak it you will forfeit Doc-tor." He pronounced the name like he had never heard it before. Smaug's power was so great that he saw a village that he recognized in the Doctor's mind.

The village was burning in his own flames. Having the information he needed, Smaug was just about to do the same to the Doctor when several explosives went off sending gold cascading everywhere.

The Doctor barely scrambled away with Ace as Smaug roared out his triumph. In Smaug's prideful age he had forgotten his own home Esgarote now called Dale. Distracted now by his greed, Smaug did not even notice the moan of a strangely wonderful machine as it flew away.

The Doctor sighed in relief as he checked to see if the paradox had subsided "I had always wondered why Smaug knew me back when I was here before….Ah never mind fixed now although it might be tricky to land here in a later timeline it seems I've been busy in the future." He gave Ace a wink as they were traveling to their next adventure.

I am proad to annouce that these one-shots are leading to a bigger story one featuring the fourth doctor in the Hobbit, the other with the twelth in Lord of the Rings if you have ideas feel free to leave them in reviews.


End file.
